The effort puts Mack among the top 168 athletes in the country invited to attend the Red Bull Crashed Ice nationals Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 in Niagra Falls, Ont.

The top 64 competitors from that event go on to the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championships in Quebec City in March.

This year will be Mack’s third appearance at the Red Bull Crashed Ice nationals and one he hopes will be his best yet.

Last year Mack finished 96th at the world championships.

“The event in Niagra Falls is going to be exactly like Quebec City but it’s a whole new track in a whole new city they’ve never had Crashed Ice in,” Mack said.

“I definitely want to be in the top 64 to make it to Quebec City.”

The top 32 racers at nationals are then slated to square off on live TV. The final round of racing will also be streamed online at www.redbullcrashedice.ca.

Mack’s time during qualifying was 22.47 seconds — slightly faster than last year’s time of 22.64 seconds. He said 170 people were in Richmond for qualifying.

“You get two attempts,” he said.

“Both of my runs would have put me in first.”

In preparation Mack said he plays hockey once a week and runs when he has time.

“I’m going to be stepping it up a bit more as Niagra Falls comes closer,” he added.

Mack’s interest was peaked by the sport before he was old enough to even compete, he said.

“My hockey team watched it on TV a long time ago and everybody bugged me about trying out but I was too young,” he said.

“The moment I turned 18 I kind of just got lucky and won the lottery to try out.”

Mack has posted a video on YouTube of his Richmond qualifying run in October which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=vgLM1bto39E.

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